


What in the 'Verse is this?

by AusKitty



Category: Doctor Who, Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-09-23 02:32:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9637073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AusKitty/pseuds/AusKitty
Summary: River discovers the TARDIS...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK... I'm in a manic episode and this question has been washing around in my brain for a while... After "fixing" Sheppard Book's Bible, what would River make of a big blue bow that was Bigger on the inside? This story will grow in dribs and drabs as I come to different realizations about the interactions of the characters. It is raw and unedited and also a far cry from my usual genre of writing.
> 
> I just hope that River having two skies to call home wont be too draining on her.

It was a large, blue telephone box from the United Kingdom on Earth that Was, or so she supposed. After all that's what they looked like in the educational disks she had seen as a child. Trailing her fingers over the smooth exterior River felt the lie. It wasn't made of wood, there was no coating of mid blue paint nor any detailing. Snatching her hand back like she had been burned River circled the Big Blue Box suspiciously. 

It called to her, the big blue box.  
"Come Child, Come. Let me show you passed the Black."  
A siren call that River longed to obey.

One hand flat against the door and it swung inside, revealing enough to make her mind swim. Physics flew by the wayside as she stumbled into the TARDIS's splendorous interior. Making her way around the central control panel, he eyes widening with every new revelation, equations flying about in her brain, being swept like a rolling tide around the bay of her mind. Shaking her head clear River pulled grates aside and wriggled her slender form into the core of the TARDIS. 

Without ever reaching her ultimate destination River found the truth- She wasn't the only one in the 'Verse who felt it all. The Big Blue Box saw all, felt all, but unlike herself, the Box could not communicate her pain or her desire to help.

River was spinning in the void, an endless cycling of birth, life, death and rebirth. The stars in the black winked into existence, burned brightly for an eternity of seconds before winking out again. She watched on in awe as entire galaxies were born, grew and died in the blink of an eye. Earth that Was called to her, in a way she did not understand. 

The Big Blue Box wanted her to see it. Earth that Was. An amazing globe of water and land, of creatures like herself, but at the same time so unlike herself that it doubted River would understand. This is where The Alliance and The Brown Coats and the Hands of Blue and Reavers all started. This was the true beginning of the never ending conflict that is life. 

Before the Colonization of the Core Planets. Before the settling of the rim worlds and the creation of the Reavers there was another planet that was home to all Humanity. She called it Earth. River called it Earth that Was. But for both of them it was a beginning. 


	2. Genesis, The Big Bang, The Universe puffed up her cheeks and blew

Genesis.   
The Big Bang.   
The Universe puffed up her cheeks and blew.   
And all of a sudden it was there. Earth-That-Was, a molten spheroid of shifting composition dancing and writhing in its own birthing pangs. 

River watched as the mountains grew, the valleys sank and the plains blossomed. Dark and viscous the seas began to boil and churn, giving birth to ever more complex organisms, the shifting tides bringing life and destruction in equal measure for nameless aeons until the formation of Pangaea. 

A time of green growth and slow decay, The Big Blue Box showed her what no man or woman had ever been alive to witness. The birth of The Earth before it became Earth-That-Was. Tears in her eyes, shimmering and reflecting the beauty of a beginning so complex that no educational tool could ever comprehend nor explain it. Perhaps this is why humanity warred on itself- because none of them had ever beheld such magnificence. Many groups believed they knew the true answer to how everything began, but as River witnessed the glory and grandeur she knew in her heart, that nobody could ever truly understand it- not even her with her expanded and near limitless knowledge and understanding. 

Things sped by again and Pangaea in turn gave birth to Laurasia and Gondwanaland, who in turn gave birth to the continents as River had come to know them from her historical holovids. The Americas, Africa, Asia, India, Australia all capped top and bottom by The Arctic and Antarctic. The oceans gave birth to creatures great and small, things that would go on to become the dominant species on the planet- and the cause of its inevitable demise. Humans, Homo sapiens, the greatest risk to the planet as a whole, and the only creatures capable of doing anything to stop it. 

River saw the rise and fall of the great civilizations, the coming of war and conflict, the benevolence of humanity and its greed. She cried tears of joy for the birth of the greatest leaders of humanity as well as that of a newborn babe in a slum. She rejoiced at the first space exploration beyond their solar system and screamed into the void when a mission failed and lives were lost. 

All the time a whisper in her ear “Anywhere, any-when, I will take you. We can be free.”


	3. Questions without answers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short addition while my brain is still working.

River danced with the blossoming of the cherry trees in feudal Japan, watched the fall of the Iron Curtain and the demolition of the Berlin Wall. She walked in the shadows of the buffalo before they left the plains. For all the beauty and splendour she couldn’t help but notice the darkness in the corners, the cracks in the pavements of the industrialised nations, the abuses of power, the over-reaching of the aristocracy and governments, and with this River felt a great unease. 

Wherever she went, when-ever the Big Blue Box took her she saw struggle and limitation. River cried for the families torn apart by famine, war and disaster. She screamed in horror with those who’s lives were cut short in the Great Fires, the Tsunami Floods and Landslides. The claustrophobia of those who cowered in the shadow of Vesuvius tore at her mind driving her back to the relative safety of the Big Blue Box. 

“Why” she whispered, “Why show me this? Why bring me here to experience these things? What torture do you feel that you must share it with me?” Wandering the silent halls, peeking behind doors that contained lifetimes of mementos, the ephemera of some others life strewn about here and there or packaged neatly and stored as if that person had just stepped from the room, River asked aloud “Who is it you miss so dearly? Who have I come to replace?”

The gentle whir of wheels within wheels, the spinning of a drive and the tang of fresh ozone in the air was the only reply.


	4. Understanding and Acceptance

River slept. The gentle pulse of light washing over her body, creeping into the crevices of her mind that became unblocked in her sleep. It was there the TARDIS found a way to communicate freely with her new companion. She pulsed and whirred with joy, knowing now how she could inform her newest friend of her situation. For what is a Time and Relative Dimension in Space vessel without someone to share the experiences with? 

Over the centuries she had a companion, a wild eyed wanderer with many faces. She stole him just as she had stolen River. Stole him from a life that he did not want, could not abide, she held him in the times of direst need, comforted him in times of doubt and rejoiced with him in his successes. But just as time continues its ceaseless march, he too had left her. There were only so many faces he could wear before he too went to the eternal rest. 

She insinuated to River that she wasn’t the only one of that name to be her companion. A woman with bouncing gait and luscious locks of curled hair. A thief, born of The Girl who Waited and the Eternal Centurion, conceived in the midst of the time vortex where she herself gave the gift of understanding. That River was the most Beloved of her former Companion, the Man of Many Faces. 

As River woke, she closed the door to that part of her which stored her own understanding of the Universe, forever changed due to a mysterious Blue Box. Whispering the words, almost absently to herself, River discovered finally a name for her. 

“Time and Relative Dimension in Space, TaRDiS, Tardis, that’s your name, that’s what they called you before you stole the Man with Many Faces and took him to the edge of the ‘verse.” She uncurled herself from around the central column, running her fingers gently over the console. “You said you stole him. But he thought he stole you. And now you say you are stealing me too…” River’s voice trailed off as she pushed some buttons then pulled a leaver. “You cant steal something that already belongs to you. If its somewhere or somewhen else, and you go and get it, it’s not stealing, it’s just coming home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will probably be a second update tonight as I am right in the groove right now. 
> 
> Kudos are lovely, they give me the warm fuzzies in my tummy... But if you like it that much, why dont you drop me a line? Constructive criticism welcome.


	5. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the things that cements the relationship of Dr Who to Firefly- they both had Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

River held tight to the console as the floor shook beneath her, Her laughter a sprinkling of wild abandon. “Tardis, Did I tell you that when I was a girl…” her words drifted off as River recalled the days she spent with Simon before she had gone away to the Academy. Interrupting his homework with exclamations about the Independants being cheaters, using Dinosaurs to destroy the ground facilities of the Alliance. As they shuddered to a halt, River rushed to the door, stroking the wooden look doorframe she said “Late Jurassic era, Earth-that-Was, Oh Tardis, you really do love me don’t you?” 

Stalking through the undergrowth River watched the (physical description) stalk its prey. A smaller lizardlike reptile was quickly dispatched into the stalking Biped’s gullet. “ Compsognathus longipes,” she whispered under her breath, unsure if Tardis could hear her. “from the Family Compsognathidae, Superfamily Maniraptoriformes. You can tell by the size, their pointed head and two fingered hands. Their wrist bones are fused but their necks are still flexible.” River’s eyes were glued to the tiny, chicken sized dinosaur. “Not the size of the Dinosaurs the Independants had in my fantasies, But still a most beautiful specimen.” 

Crawling backwards toward the Tardis River felt like the adventure had just begun. “I want to go to what will become North America; I want to meet the Allosaurus. I much prefer them to the Tyrannosaurus. At least when an Allosaurus fell down it could recover, damage to the skeletal structure was lesser than the Tyrannosaurus due to its speed times mass at point of collision being lower than that of his much larger and later counterpart. ” 

River thought back to the plastic Dinosaurs that lined the instrumentation in the cockpit of Serenity and sighed. “If only he had known how inaccurate he was to have a Stegosaurus on friendly terms with a Tyrannosaurus, there was an approximate time gap of 83 million years between the two.” River sighed, thinking of her old friends and how they were still perfectly preserved in her mind, despite the atrocities that befell them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did do a little bit of quick and nasty research. I adore the scene in Firefly where Wash is playing with his plastic Dinosaurs. and lets face it, River wouldnt notice the whole Predator/prey thing, but she WOULD notice the time gap between the two.
> 
> http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinos/Compy.shtml  
>  http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinos/Allosaurus.shtml  
>  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/on-dinosaur-time-65556840/


	6. Stormageddon; Dark Lord of All

Bàofēngxuě, hēi'àn zhī wáng; son of Craig and Sofie; Dearest Father, Beloved Benefactor and Reluctant Companion. 

The memorial gave her the chills, the marble so pristine and white beneath the azure sky, matching the rows of identical stones marking the resting places of his father, mother and several of the Doctors other Companions. River traced her fingers over the names. “Stormageddon” She asked aloud, “Why on earth would anyone name their child Stormageddon?” Walking in the verdant green field River decided must be a special place in TARDIS’s memory, River discovered the stones in lines of uniform size and shape. Each plinth a three foot tall, two foot square with a name and description, but never a date. The memorials felt like they reached out forever, an eternal plane of whispering grass and white marble. 

Turning to leave, River touched the memorial stone once more and made up her mind. “We go to witness the Storm, to see his might and fury. Perhaps the Storm is all bluster and hot air; perhaps he is no storm at all.” The door swung open silently inviting, the dark haired girl disappeared behind it as the gears whirled and the lights pulsed and faded leaving nothing but silence and a swaying breeze.

His name tag said ALFIE in childish scrawl, the satchel over his shoulder hugged tight to his body as though to protect him from the taller lads in front of him. River watched as the boy positioned himself half way between the little girl crying on the ground behind him and the bullies in front of them. Narrowing his eyes and swallowing hard the boy pushed his shoulders back, stood as straight as he could and bellowed as loud as his lungs would allow him “MISS! The fifth forms are pushing the little kids again, this time they really hurt one Miss!” 

Looking over at the boy as he stood trembling the teacher on duty shook her head, noting that it was that troublemaker Alfie again, before a stirring of the leaves took her mind elsewhere. The TARDIS whirred and spun and River smiled as they leapt forward to another place and time. Alfie was there collecting a rolled paper in one hand, shaking an older gentleman’s hand with the other. His parents, looking up to the stage and their son with beautiful smiles and pride in their eyes as he received the highest honours his school bestowed.

Forward again and again TARDIS showed her Alfie’s life in snippets and postcard scenes. His wedding, the births of his children, his work commendations and retirement. Finally they whirred to a place that River knew was the penultimate moment of Alfie’s life; laying in a hospital bed, machines and tubes and wires surrounding him. A man stood at his bedside, bent over quietly combing the elderly man’s hair, talking to him in dulcet tones. River liked the look of this man, an old fashioned brown tweed suit with a bright red bowtie with a cowboy hat and boots, his tawny brown hair peeping out from beneath. His face was kind, and deeply mournful as he listened to Alfie’s last words. 

“Doctor,” He wheezed, “Do you still speak baby? I remember the day we met, you told my father that he gave me the wrong name.” The wheeze became harsher, rumbling from somewhere deep in his chest, his eyes closing against the pain. “Do you remember Doctor? I told you my name was Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All, but father insisted all these years on calling me Alfie.” The Doctor sat the comb aside and patted down the dying man’s suit, tenderly straightening the bowtie at his throat. 

“I remember Stormageddon; I will always remember, because I can never forget.” And with that final vow the Doctor turned and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always- the translations are googles, the mistakes are mine  
> Bàofēngxuě, hēi'àn zhī wáng- Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All
> 
> Beginning with this chapter we will be taking a walk through The TARDIS's memories. Each memorial plinth has a name and description of every person The Doctor has ever saved- starting with the first Doctor and making its way beyond that which is current and cannon. In addition to the Dr Who universe, I extrapolate that the Doctor could easily have visited every planet in the Firefly/Serenity universe as well, this gives up a plethora of characters to choose from.
> 
> Please contact me with suggestions for names and descriptions for people you think The Doctor may have helped.


	7. Derrial Book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TARDIS gives River a glimpse into the life of Derrial Book: Man of Faith, Sheppard of Lost Souls, Operative.

Derrial Book: Man of Faith, Sheppard of Lost Souls, Operative.

The last word shocked River to her core. Their preacher, their Book was an Operative. Turning to the Tardis with a heavy heart and black behind her eyes she shook her silently sobbing head. “No, Not our Preacher Man. He was too soft a soul to be one of those monsters.” 

They spun and unfurled their sails to navigate the waves of space and time, whirring and whirling to the childhood home of Derrial Book, aged four years and three months. 

“Derrial boy, come here, I got something I wanna share; right up close an’ personal like.” The stench of cheap moonshine hung in suffocating curtains from his father, the doubled belt in his hand a sure sign that Derrial had a beating coming. Standing straight backed, upper torso stripped bare in the early evening light Derrial Book took the final beating his father would ever administer as a heart attack gripped him mid strike. It was the first time Derrial wondered if maybe God was real. That night he picked up his momma’s bible and began to read, slowly and hesitantly, but he never put that book down again.

Twisting and twining in the vortex they made their way forward to see a lanky teen standing between a smaller boy and a group of ruffians, bible in hand. “The good book teaches to love thy neighbour. You aren’t being very kind to this boy, what would your mommas say to that?” The ruffians move menacingly closer to the young man, leering and licking their lips hungrily. 

“Mayhapbe your good book wants you to take his place, lovin’ your neighbour is what he be wanted f’r.” the largest of the hoodlums reached for Derrial’s face, turning it to catch the light, “get a good price you would, an’ save the soul of that ugly runt you would.” Without thought Derrial nodded and agreed, and with that action sold himself into slavery. A ham sized fist caught him in the temple as laughter rang through the air, both boys hefted into strong arms before being dumped in the slave pits near the docks of some backberth moon on the rim.

River cried and begged the TARDIS to take her far away from there, to a place where Derrial Book was a good man, where he knew the right and the wrong of the ‘verse and could be the man she knew him to be; A crazy haired angel with capital F Faith and a good heart.

They spun on past the time when Derrial changed from slave to Agent, Agent to Operative and landed at the turning point. The scales tipped him from faith in the good book and God to include faith in his fellow man. The day he met a lanky man in a bow tie and cowboy boots and hat; this in itself would have been unusual, but the spotless tweed coat over the denim jeans and button down shirt made him stick out more than just a little. The large blue box behind him even more so.

“What is it this time, must have been a miscalibration of the external spatial guidance… oh hello there! Didn’t see you, I’m The Doctor, what seems to be the issue here?” Curious and critical, the hazel green eyes bored into Derrial’s soul; burning their way past the meticulous indoctrination of the Alliance and drawing a quietly uttered question to Derrial’s lips. “Are you a messenger of God?”

Cocking his head to the side The Doctor smirked a grin and nodded to the book open in Derrial’s hands. “Well if you are referring to the God in that book, I don’t think so. But then again why settle for meeting one god when you can go back and meet the inspirations for them all? A quick skip and a hop and I could have you face to face with the Goose God of Antigua Fomori Pi, he was a funny fellow who recommended the juggling of geese at a wedding; few generations later there is a whole planet of people who juggle geese! Amazing really. Then there’s all the classic Greek and Roman gods, the Judeo-Christian god, Norse Gods can be fun to drink with, just don’t let them know that…” His grin spread as Derrial’s eyes widened “So, shall we?” he hitched hit thumb back to the big blue box in invitation. “She don’t look like much, but she’ll fool ya.”

The last thing River saw was Book’s back retreating behind the blue door before it closed and faded from sight.


End file.
